Examining the history of nationalism's pervasive influence on modern politics and cultural identities, Lloyd Kramer discusses how nationalist ideas gained emotional and cultural power after the revolutionary upheavals in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic world.

Nationalism in Europe and America analyzes the multiple historical contexts and intellectual themes that have shaped modern nationalist cultures, including the political claims for national sovereignty, the emergence of nationalist narratives in historical writing and literature, the fusion of nationalism and religion, and the overlapping conceptions of gender, families, race, and national identities. Kramer emphasizes the similarities in American and European nationalist thought, showing how European ideas about land, history, and national destiny flourished in the United States while American ideas about national independence and political rights reappeared among European nationalists and also influenced the rise of anticolonial nationalisms in twentieth-century Asia and Africa. By placing nationalist ideas and conflicts within the specific, cross-cultural framework of Atlantic history and extending his analysis to the twentieth-century world wars, Kramer offers readers a thoughtful perspective on nationalism's enduring political and cultural importance throughout the modern world.

Lloyd Kramer is professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His books include Threshold of a New World: Intellectuals and the Exile Experience in Paris, 1830-1848 and Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions.

Reviews

“With an important and original perspective on nationalism that focuses on parallel developments on each side of the Atlantic and on their mutual influence, Kramer places nationalist ideas and conflicts within the cross-cultural framework of Atlantic history and also offers a long-range account that extends to the current situation.”--European Review of History

“Offers a sweeping survey of the birth and development of modern nationalism, including identification of iconic symbols and events.”--Journal of American History

“This study [is] a useful textbook for undergraduates in the arts and social sciences and not just for students of the long eighteenth century.”--The Historian

“A trenchant historical analysis of nationalism in the modern world.”--Journal of American Studies

“Rarely does a single volume explore the history and culture of nationalism as concise, precise, and eloquent as Lloyd Kramer’s [book].”--Journal of World History

"Lloyd Kramer has written an excellent account of the rise and development of modern nationalism. Unlike many historical treatments on the subject, which focus either on a bewildering array of examples or single culture studies, Kramer's book is a brilliant comparative analysis centering on Europe and the United States."--Martin A. Miller, Duke University